Special Jury Award

The Chicago Board of Education made history in 2013 approving the closure of 50 schools, the largest public school closing to date in the United States. I shot all 50 schools on a 100 roll of 16mm film while my DSLR caught vignettes of their communities. Direct laser animation and bleach were used to distress the 16mm film, which was then optically printed.

The refugee crisis in Ugandas Kyangwali Refugee Settlement isnt new. For the people of this camp, being a refugee is a protracted circumstance endured for decades. SAUTI (Voice in Swahili) follows the efforts of five young women who were brought to the Settlement as children and who, as they approach adulthood; strive to pursue their dreams for a future beyond the constraints of a protracted refugee situation in an underdeveloped host country. Though safer than they were before, little else has changed since fleeing war and persecution years ago in their home countries of Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan. Transcending the label refugee has been especially challenging for the women of Kyangwali.

THE GUY FROM OKLAHOMA narrates the story of Anado McLauchlin, a visual artist born in Oklahoma but whose chaotic life took him to San Francisco, New York and India before finally settling down in Mexico, where he has built an impressive art gallery in the middle of a desert village, on the outskirts of San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato.